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Coleman Barks
Coleman Barks (born 1937) is an American poet. Although he neither speaks nor reads Persian, he is nonetheless renowned as an interpreter of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia. Life Barks is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He attended the University of North Carolina and the University of California, Berkeley. Barks taught literature at the University of Georgia for 3 decades. He lives in Athens, Georgia, where he interprets the writings of Rumi and composes poetry of his own. Barks makes frequent international appearances and is well-known throughout the Middle East. Barks' work has contributed to an extremely strong following of Rumi in the English-speaking world.Persian Poet Conquers America Due to his work, the ideas of Sufism have crossed many cultural boundaries over the past few decades. Coleman Barks received an honorary doctorate from Tehran University in 2006.Iran News report He has also read his original poetry at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. In early 2011, Barks suffered a stroke that has somewhat impaired his speech and has resulted in at least one cancelled appearance. http://donshare.blogspot.com/2011/03/message-from-coleman-barks.html Writing Rumi interpretations Barks has published several volumes of his interpretations of Rumi's poetry since 1976, including The Hand of Poetry, Five Mystic Poets of Persia in 1993, The Essential Rumi in 1995 and The Book of Love in 2003. Criticism Barks does not speak or read Persian; his 'translations' are therefore technically paraphrases. Barks bases his paraphrases entirely on other English translations of Rumi which include renderings by John Moyne and Reynold A. Nicholson.Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi: New Expanded Edition (Harper Collins Publishers, 2004), "On the more literal level, the texts I work from to produce these poems are unpublished translations done by John Moyne, Emeritus Head of Linguistics at the City University of New York, and the following translations by Reynold Nicholson and A. J. Arberry, the famous Cambridge Islamicists..." (p. 365) In addition, while the original Persian poetry of Rumi is heavily rhymed and metered, Barks has used primarily free verse. In some instances, he will also skiphttp://dar-al-masnavi.blogspot.com/2012/02/dar-al-masnavi-question-about.html or mix lines and metaphors from different poems into one 'translation'. For example, here is a very literal rendering by Reynold A. Nicholson, On the Day of Resurrection every hidden thing will be made manifest: every sinner will be ignominiously exposed by himself. His hands and feet will give evidence and declare his iniquity in the presence of Him whose help is sought. His hand will say, 'I have stolen such and such'; his lip will say, 'I have asked such and such questions'; His foot will say. 'I have gone to (enjoy) things desired'; his pudendum will say, 'I have committed fornication.' His eye will say, 'I have cast amorous glances at things forbidden'; his ear will say, 'I have gathered evil words.' Therefore he is a lie from head to foot, for even his own members give him the lie, Just as, in (the case of) the specious prayers (performed by the ascetic), their fine appearance was proved to be false testimonio testiculi. Act, then, in such wise that the action itself, without (your) tongue (uttering a word), will be (equivalent to) saying 'I testify' and (to making) the most explicit declaration, So that your whole body, limb by limb, O son, will have said 'I testify' as regards both good and ill. The slave's walking behind his master is a testimony (equivalent to saying), 'I am subject to authority and this man is my lord.'Reynold A. Nicholson (translator), The Mathnawi of Jalalu'din Rumi, Book V, verses 2211-2220, p. 133 (E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Trust 1926, Reprinted 2001) And Barks' version of the same passage, On Resurrection Day your body testifies against you. Your hand says, 'I stole money.' Your lips, 'I said meanness.' Your feet, 'I went where I shouldn't.' Your genitals, 'Me Too.' They will make your praying sound hypocritical Let the body's doings speak openly now, without your saying a word, as a student's walking behind a teacher says, "This one knows more clearly than I the way.Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi: New Expanded Edition, (Harper Collins Publishers, 2004), p. 111 Barks' translations have been criticised by many Persian scholars. Majid Naficy writes that Coleman Barks reduces Rumi's poetry to a New Age text: Rumi translations Barks has published several volumes of Rumi's poetry since 1976, including The Hand of Poetry, Five Mystic Poets of Persia in 1993, The Essential Rumi in 1995 and The Book of Love in 2003. Barks does not speak Persian, but bases his interpretations entirely on other English translations of Rumi. This includes translations by John Moyne. In addition, while the original Persian poetry of Rumi is heavily rhymed and metered, Barks has used primarily free verse. In some instances, he will also mix lines and metaphors from different poems into one 'translation'. Original poetry Barks has published several volumes of his own poetry, including Gourd Seed, Tentmaking, and, in 2001, Granddaughter Poems, a collection of poetry about his granddaughter, Briny Barks, with illustrations by Briny. Harper published his 1st book of poetry, The Juice, in 1972. Quickly Aging Here is another of his poetry books. Quotes Iran is my first home-land. (2006)Fars News Agency report The only credential I have for working on Rumi's poetry is my meeting with Sufi teacher, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. That relationship is the only access I have to what is going on in Rumi's poetry.Bookpage.com Recognition In March 2009 Barks was inducted to the Georgia Writers' Hall of Fame.http://www.libs.uga.edu/gawriters/page/honorees.html Publications Poetry *''The Juice''. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. *''New Words''. Austell, GA: Sweetwater Press, 1976. *''There's a Delicacy in Lappland''. New York: Poetry in Public Places, 1976. *''We're Laughing at the Damage''. Davidson, NC: Briarpatch Press, 1977. *''Gourd Seed''. Athens, GA: Maypop, 1993. *''Xenia: A hoard of lost words, eighteenth-century street lingo, and a few completely confabulated terms''. Athens, GA: Maypop, 1994. *''Club: Granddaughter poems'' (illustrated by Briny Barks). Athens, GA: Maypop, 2001. *''Tentmaking: Poems and prose paragraphs''. Athens, GA: Maypop, 2001. *''Scrapwood Man: Poetry and prose''. Athens, Ga: Maypop, 2007. *''Winter Sky: New and selected poems''. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2008. *''Hummingbird Sleep: Poems, 2009-2011''. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2013. Translated *Rumi, Night and Sleep (with Robert Bly). Cambridge, MA: Yellow Moon Press, 1981. *Rumi, Open Secret: Versions of Rumi. Putney, VT: Threshold Books, 1984. *Rumi, The Essential Rumi. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995. *Rumi, Like This. Athens, GA: Maypop, 1990. *''The Hand of Poetry: Five mystic poets of Persia: Translations from the poems of Sanai, Attar, Rumi, Saadi and Hafiz''. New Lebanon, NY: Omega Publications, 1993. *Rumi, The Illuminated Rumi. New York: Broadway Books, 1997. *Rumi, The Glance: Songs of soul-meeting. New York: Viking / Arkana, 1999. *''The Illuminated Prayer: The five-times prayer of the Sufis as revealed by Jellaludin Rumi & Bawa Muhaiyaddeen''. New York: Ballantine Wellspring, 2000. *Rumi, The Soul of Rumi: A new collection of ecstatic poems. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. *Rumi, The Book of Love: Poems of ecstasy and longing. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. *Rumi, A Year with Rumi: Daily readings. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006. *Rumi, Bridge to the Soul: Journeys into the music and silence of the heart. New York: HarperOne, 2007. *Rumi, The Big Red Book: The great masterpiece celebrating mystical love and friendship. New York: HarperOne, 2010. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Coleman Barks, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 24, 2014. Audio / video Discography * * * * * * * * * * * See also * List of U.S. poets * Persian poetry References External links ;Poems * Four new translations of Rumi by Barks * Coleman Barks at the Poetry Foundation. ;Audio / video *Coleman Barks at YouTube * Audio Interview with Coleman Barks discussing the "Soul of Rumi" - includes transcript * [http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/archives/2007/090907.html/ Audio Interview on CBC radio with Coleman Barks and Andrew Harvey, by Mary Hynes of Tapestry (September 9, 2007; about 50 minutes)] ;Books *Coleman Barks at Amazon.com ;About * Bark's bio on The Zip Book *Coleman Barks at the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame * Coleman Barks at the New Georgia Encyclopedia * Coleman Barks Official website. * Different Ways of Laughing: interview with Coleman Barks at Guernica Category:1937 births Category:American poets Category:American translators Category:Iranologists Category:Living people Category:University of Georgia faculty Category:American Sufis Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Translators to English